Short hops and hard knocks with Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne.

Wake to DL; Ellsbury back up top

Right shoulder injury for Tim Wakefield. Very similar to last year. They are trying to contain it before it gets worse. The plan now is for him to miss two starts. No word yet on who will start Tuesday. The top candidates are Michael Bowden (scheduled to pitch Monday), DevernHansack (last pitched on Aug. 7) or Charlie Zink (who would have to pitch on three days rest).

And, originally, Jacoby Ellsbury was going to hit seventh today. But that changed two hours before game-time, when Kevin Youkilis was scratched with a left shoulder impingement — a product of lifting weights a few days ago.

So Ellsbury will lead off, J.D. Drew will hit cleanup and Sean Casey is hitting seventh.

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72 Comments

How about Dave Pauley- the kid who pitch well at Fenway recently? Is there anyone else that might be available from the minors that may deserve a shot? Who knows, sometimes when your back is against the wall, good things happen. Everyone think positive. Let’s hope Wake recovers soon!! In the meantime ,let’s go Sox!!!

Perhaps Zink can replace Wakefield in the rotation. I assume that would be a baseball first. One knuckleballer replaces another one. I have read where Zink is pitching well in A.A.A. Then again wasn’t Buchholz pitching well in A.A.A. as well. lol. Pauley would be on the list as well. Perhaps Masterson as well but I don’t think you want a young arm like Masteron going back and forth. Starter to bullpen and back to a starter again and then back to the pen. Years ago that wouldn’e be an issue but these pitchers are so babied now. Pitch counts and everything else. Either way Boston should be just fine. If it is only 2 starts, Boston should be able to get by with Wakefield’s absence.

Zink last pitched on Friday night so I guess he wouldn’t get the call. Bowden is scheduled to pitch tomm. night for the Paw Sox so he could get the call. I just read this on the Bos. Herald website. Either way Boston has options and that is a great thing. Most teams don’t have options like this. Theo and the baseball ops. dept. has done a great job with the farm. Stocking arms for situations like this.

I hope Ellsbury stays at the top of the order. Good things happen when he gets on. Look no further than last night. A leadoff single and then the runs came. He is a sparkplug, a tablesetter ( Is tablesetter 1 word or 2 words ? lol ) Anyone??? Bueller??? lol.

I hope Youk’s injury isn’t anything serious. Boston needs his bat in the lineup and of course his gold glove at 1b. Casey plays well when he gets his chance.

The Sox are having more than their fair share of nagging injuries. The Wakefield injury is particularly painful. He has been pitiching very well. He must have thrown too many of those 74 mph fast balls last time out.

Well, nobody answered the trivia question yesterday about baseball rubbing mud. The answer is that all the mud comes from the Deleware River Basin in New Jersey and is called Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud. The location of the magic mud hole is still a secret. The mud has a very fine texture, kind of like instant chocolate pudding when it isn’t totally mixed. C’mon, all you bachelors have been there with the Instant Pudding stuff so you know what I’m talking about. Unlike other muds, Lena Blackburne removes the sheen from a baseball without making the leather soggy or turning the baseball dark brown or black. Interestingly, before Lena Blackburne, one of the substances that was used was chewing tobacco juice. Yuk!

Looks like I’ll be watching the game on TBS since the MLB Extra Innings feed is from Chicago and the one guy in the world who is close to Joe Migrane in his ineptitude as an announccer is Ken Harrelson. I have a headache just thinking about it.

Buchholz survives with a couple of breaks. Ramirez swinging at ball 4 and Uribe missing a hanging curve. Buchholz is throwing a lot of curves up in the strike zone which at some point will get him in trouble. Nevertheless, he got through the inning and has a chance to come back strong.

What is up with Buccholz?? I know that we are hurting for starters as of now but I swear its time to do something about him…. I cant think of anything positive to say about him except, “hey he didn’t give up slam”!!

I understand that the Sox need to cultivate new pitching (Buchholz), but what is going on with him and his pattern of terrible pitching? We send Masterson to go be a middle reliever which he is doing well, but he was starting well too, and now we have Clay, who is worse than a nightmare, not even getting us into the 4th inning competitively now. I have to believe that we can grab someone else out of AAA, or just send him back down for a few weeks…

The pitch Quentin hit was a good pitch. It was a fastball low and inside…… like I said, good hitters hit good pitches. The Thome blast was one of those looping curves up in the strike zone. I said earlier those upper zone curves would cost Buchholz at some point, and it did.

2 on and nobody out and the threat goes by the boards. I have seen that countless times from the Red Sox this year. I wonder what there average is with runners in scor. pos. on the road?

Aardsma got out of that jam. Aardsma is a total mystery to me. He throws as hard as anyone on the Red Sox but can’t throw the ball over on a consisent basis.

I think the worst thing that ever happened to Buchholz was the no hitter last Sept. Expectations and more expectations going into this season. Perhaps this season will wake him up. He has gotten smoked this year. When he pitches the bats need to be alive and well. If not the Sox will lose for sure. His confidence level must be at ZERO. He hangs too many curveballs and his fastball has nothing on it. Other than that he has been great. lol. It must be tough learning on the big league level and at the same time pitching for a team like the Red Sox. Perhaps games like this will make him a better pitcher, here’s hoping anyway. He’ll be 24 very soon, he is still very young obviously. I hope his Penthouse Pet galpal wasn’t watching today, if she was he’ll be dumped like yesterday’s news, lol.

Tek missed some really good pitches to hit. He looks much better hitting right handed and he might consider giving up the left side. That might be something he wants to think about over the winter so he can work on it in spring training

I really like what I see from Masterson. He is very aggressive coming out of that pen. He doesn’t mess around out there. I’m impressed more and more every time I see him pitch. He throws strikes out there. I wonder if Aardsma is watching. If he isn’t he should be.

I agree Brian and I’m a little surprised. He is not having the command issues he had as a starter. I thought he would be just another guy to come in and give up the unnecessary walk. However, he’s a part of the bullpen which seems to have turned itself around.

ZAZU took one on the noggin in LA. He’s OK though, which is a good thing.

This is what I don’t understand. We know Buchholtz has been ineffective since he was re-activated and yet we kept him in the rotation again and again and let him lose the game again and again. I said it manny posts ago that letting Buchholtz pitch is a foregone conclusion that the Sox would lose. Any pitcher but Buccholtz, there is a chance that Sox would win.
At least the Yanks acted promptly, Kennedy was ineffective just in one start and was optioned to AAA.
I would be extremely disappointed to see Buccholtz starting again in the heat of the wc race.

“Clay, you’ve pitched a lot of games for the Sox and failed to win one. Why is that?”

Clay -> “You think it’s easy to pitch with my condition? It’s not. I go out there every day and do my best but I can’t help myself.”

“Clay…what condition”

Clay -> “I get excited by losing. I know it’s bad but the more runs I give up the more of a rush I get. Don’t ask me why!”

“Clay is this affecting any other player of the team”

Clay -> “Ah…Lugo is probably the worst case. It’s like a one night stand every time he goes out there…they David Ortiz is getting the bug…then Jason Varitek…then Josh Beckett…then…ah…just about every member of the team actually is getting addicted to it. It’s better than you can imagine. ”

“Clay do you need…help?”

Clay -> “Not really. Before each game…I smash my arm with a hammer and it really helps. ”

Soory I was ignoring the blog lately. I did alot of things this week. Buchholz is really struggling. Here is my solution; Make Buchholz be in AAA the rest of the year, help him in the off-season, and he will be ready to dominate next year. It seriously looks like he should be in AA right now

Okay everyone,
If somehow Beckett pitches half way decent tomorrow and the Sox muster up enough offense to win that would put them at 4-3 on this road trip. BABY STEPS. That would be a better road trip than they have had in a while. Chin up Sox fans….this may be a grinder the rest of the way but we can handle it. I must agree though…..watching Buchholz pitch is like putting toothpicks in your eyes. At least we aren’t Yankee fans. GSM was right…..they will be on the road a lot the rest of the way and they stink on the road too.
GO SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey 007, No need to chew Mikey out!!How many times has he been the one left on base this season?? How bout you take it out on Clay CeeYA later B.?? Don’t take it out on a seasoned veteran when you’ve got a Green still wet behind the ears Playing with a Penthouse pet bhutt head who doesnt know his asp from his freaking elbow on the mound who wets his pants every time he gives up a home run!!!! He should have stock in Depends at this point in his career!!
We lost Clay gave up the runs, put the blame where it is due!!~!!

And Rayman: who peed in your Corn Flakes lately?? You dont like the Sox?? haul asp!! I for one am getting tired of you dumping on them… I think I can recall last October you extolling their greatness!! If this is reverse Psy 101, let us know because to me it just sounds like a fair weathered fan to me…

I was out today but taped the game. Bucholz was terrible. He’s really bad. Tito should realize that the way he is pitching he can’t compete in the majors and should be sent down or be considered in a trade. Clearly, he is not ready. Lowell really had a bad day both at the plate and in the field. Papi is really struggling. The Sox had chances to win and didn’t come through. Three things turned out well today. First, the Yanks lost. Second, when the Sox played the kind of ball that they played today and I had it on tape, I could fast forward and somewhat minimize the pain. Third, Masterson really looked good and was probably the only shining light for the Sox today. I guess there is one more thing, someone reported that ZaZu took one on the noggin today. I’m also glad that he wasn’t hurt. However, he may try to convince Torre that his dreadlocks cushioned the blow.

The Sox can’t continue to give away a ballgame every 5th day, and it looks like when he gets back, Bartolo Colon will replace Wake for a while. What then, do you think the Sox will do about Buchholz’ inability to get the job done…keep trying with him…or bring up someone else…While I know he threw a 5 inning no-hitter the last game of the 2006 season…Devern Hansack has not succeeded in pitching at the big league level since…I know great things are expected of Michael Bowden (I am one of the people who has suggested it) but he only recently was sent from Double — A to Triple — A, and he got rocked his first time out at Pawtucket. It may be a little soon to have him start in the “bigs,” especially against a “hit machine” like the Rangers. That could be a real confidence deflater.

I’m not sure I like the idea of the “double reverse,” But I think more and more the Sox have to consider putting Justin M back in a starter’s role. He just pitched three innings yesterday, throwing 34 pitches. That puts him in line with Buchholz’ next start, when he could go 5 innings or so, 50-60 pitches or so. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but its better than the Sox have been getting out of Buch. Maybe you turn Buch into a one inning guy, or a mop-up guy (I know, its seems like that’s all the Sox have in the bullpen…mop-up guys).

I think the Yanks are in worse shape than the Sox are, injury-wise, and have lost 10 of their last 15. I believe, as my son-in-law does, that if the Yanks aren’t a good deal closer in the next 2 weeks, Joba is done for the year. Why take the chance? I think the Sox main competition for the Wild Card (assuming that the Rays stand up to their arduous September schedule), are the White Sox/Twins. The Sox are done with the Twinkies, and can do nothing more about them. The Sox have today’s game and 3 more at home at the end of August against the White Sox (beginning their 19 of 28 home games to end the season). They have to win as many as possible against the White Sox, starting today.

I’m not a fair-weather fan, just commenting on how bad we’ve been for a long time. I just checked the schedule… we were 15 games over .500 on June 12. That means 2 months of .500 ball since. With this team, that stinks.

We’re +108 in Runs differential… The Angels are +65 and about 8 game ahead of us. That means that we have just enough blowouts to pad our stats so that we think we’re good, but we lose just about all of the close games.

Ellen: I was not chewing at Lowell. I was just little disappointed that Lowell hit into DP with bases loaded when Sox were down only 1 run. After all, Lowell gave us 3 ribbies with a swing of the bat. My frustration was completely on Buchholtz and the Sox management for letting him start despite his repeated ineffectiveness since he was reactivated.

If some of you cared to read my previous posts, I have been calling for Buchholtz’s ouster for sometime. The Sox cannot afford to give a game away every 5 or 6 days. If the Sox management was adamant about keeping Buchholtz in the rotation for whatever flimsy reasons, he did not necessarily have to pitch in the exact pitching rotation. For example, Becket on his regular days of rest should have started Game 1 of the KC series facing a tougher pitcher, and Buchholz stated Game 2. The Sox could have possibly swept the sleep walking KC.

Imagine if the Sox just won half or even 1/3 of the games Buchholtz started, the Sox would be enjoying the luxury of being competitive for the division lead. But again, Buchholz should not be completely blamed for the position in which the Sox are. Lack of timely hits was partially responsible too.

The question is, ” who pissed in your corn flakes”? lol. I don’t think anyone on this blog is a fair weather fan. I see alot of the same fans making comments on the game. That to me is not a definition of a fan weather fan. Everyone on here is a Red Sox fan.

Hi all. Wow. Manny sure is talking trash in LA. There’s a HUGE Dodger following out here in the Southwest. The Yank fans out here aren’t their usual boisterous, foul-mouthed selves…. And it’s interesting to note that even Mariano is relieved that Manny’s out on the Worst Coast. Scary thought: Manny in pinstripes when his time in LA expires?

If we can get a good streak started (and the Angels play the Rays EVERY DAY for the next month) we can make a run for it. The Yanks might not be through yet, but injuries are eating them up. Rays? Hot as the West Texas Sun. I’m no fan of TB, but it’s nice to see some parity in the division for a change. Can you imagine if TB pulls it off? Eric Hinske will have the last laugh….

jimmaynard
We try to avoid the name of the big -mouth shirker who was anxious to be traded for thirty pieces of silver- which at one time used to equate to around $25 . Today with inflation it equates to $17M. One way that he can be referred to is ZAZU. For all the Yankee fans that wish for their team to pick him up, we Sox fans hope they get what they wish for.

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